This invention relates to an auger arrangement for transporting particulate material of the type comprising a main auger including a main auger tube which is supported on a frame system with ground wheels so that the main auger can be moved across the ground. The main auger tube has a hitch at the lower end for connection of the lower end to a tractor. The main auger flight has a coupling at the lower end for connection to a PTO shaft from the tractor so that the main auger flight is directly driven by the PTO shaft. A side load auger is provided to communicate the feed material from a hopper at a lower end of the side load auger into a container at the lower end of the main auger. The side load auger must be free to pivot relative to the container and relative to the main auger so that it can move to various different positions at one side of the main auger so that the hopper can be properly positioned to receive the material to be transported. In addition the side auger is conventionally pivoted to a raised position alongside the main auger for a transport operation.
Augers of this type have been available since approximately 1983 and have become widely adopted.
Conventionally the side load auger is driven by a hydraulic motor mounted at the upper end of the side load auger and powered from the hydraulic system of the tractor. This necessitates the use on the auger of a relatively modern high power tractor since the inefficiency of the hydraulic system requires a high level of horsepower for driving the side load auger. The farmer is therefore obliged to use a tractor for this purpose which could otherwise be more effectively used where the high level of horsepower necessary can be fully utilized.
In addition the fact that the side load auger and the main auger are driven entirely separately makes it very difficult to balance the relative feed speeds of these augers so that it is most likely that either the main auger is overloaded because the side load auger is feeding too quickly or it is underloaded because the side load auger is feeding too slowly. In the former case, spillage or even damage to the equipment can occur. In the second case, the feed capacity of the main auger is not properly utilized so that the whole system feeds well below capacity.
A search has revealed the following U.S. patents which disclose various arrangements for driving two augers one of which can feed into the other. However none of these arrangements have the required pivotal connection between the augers which is necessary to accommodate the movements of the feed auger or side load auger of the system with which the present invention is concerned. The U.S. patent located are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,771,643 (Schmidth), 4,624,357 (Oury), 1,906,247 (Buff), 3,580,389 (Nonnehmacher), 3,598,224 (Oury), 3,707,224 (Rastoin), 2,867,314 (Hansen) and 3,465,685 (Sherrod).